This continues a series of burning questions I pose to my readers to hopefully spark some debate in the comments.

CIO Insight goes "We asked CIOs who participated in this month's Emerging Technologies
Survey to tell us which Web 2.0 applications they use personally. It
turns out they're avid consumers of many of these technologies. Around
half watch video online and use wikis, blogs and RSS; about a third use
social networking sites like LinkedIn; and 12 percent even use virutal
worlds like Second Life."

Brad Feld on other hand goes "Get ready to start hearing “Social Graph” as frequently as you hear “Web 2.0.” The construct of the Social Graph
(and its friend – Social Network) has been around for a while. Now
that Facebook has stolen our minds (and help us control our friends),
we all are part of a social network. Or nine. Or 721"

One graph - The Gartner Hype cycle - is what I would like readers to comment on. Where are social and web 2.0 technologies on the hype cycle. What do you think - Peak, Trough, Slope?

Information Security officers at most companies are an interesting breed. They don't trust their mothers - but many have a sense of humor. One of them told me "One of the perks of my job is I GET to see the blocked sites -)" Yes, particularly Facebook. Of course, I am not even sure he runs security or just made his title up.

Network World outlines 10 steps to prepare for a "cyberwar". It just scratches the surface. Increasingly physical and information security paths are converging. And as we outsource more and use more software as as a service, our ecosystems and supply chains often poses more of a risk and need to be protected against.

Much as I respect them, I wish security officers were more sensitive to cost and payback. As with we have seen with auditors and Sarbanes Oxley, the payback from security is as low as that from compliance.

Often the large investments just lull us into delusion. Or derision - as you can see from the expressions and quiet complaints you hear when you stand in security lines in most airports these days.

PS - talking about cyberwars check out this on Web War One in Estonia earlier this year

BusinessWeek raves about IBM India. I think that unit should get its own sales force in the West. Become vertically integrated like various GM divisions of old. From several proposals I have seen from IBM, the India capabilities are grudgingly positioned.

There are plenty of deals which IBM decides to pass on, or badly prices which their Indian unit would have done a better job proposing on. Not easy - Alfred Sloan's thoughts on divisional autonomy have been forgotten even at GM. But, in a SWITCHing market, you still win if you lose to your colleagues than to your competition.

Interesting speculation on the Google Phone and that it is targeting Negroponte's laptop for the developing world. Sure could have a significant connectivity advantage.

In related news, MIT Technology Review decomposes an iPhone and concludes "Apple had relied mostly on tried-and-true components--with one big
exception: a truly stunning multitouch screen" In other words, with enough scale, could beat Negroponte's device on price.

The Steve Jobs of 1974 may have been interested. May be even the romantic who delivered this speech in 2005. But 2 months after the phenomenonal launch of iPhone, the Third World is not where his mind is focused. Let the company which does no evil worry about that market.

I am dying to get the new US passport. I drooled about it on my New Florence blog.

Of course, I had also heard about passport delay horror stories as in the USA Today article. But I am out of excuses - on my last few trips US and other immigration officers have started to give me hell. I have run out of pages for them to stamp my passport. While it's only 4 years old, the passport office tells me I qualify for a new one - the id page is a bit frayed so I can apply for a replacement passport. Then they tell me the likely turnaround time. Since my next international flight is within a month, I decide it is safer to just apply for new pages.

And I am told, even then I should use a courier service. Costs $ 75. And pay the State Department a $ 60 expedite fee. And of course, fedex both ways - $ 50.

$ 185 for what should be a free 24 page addition. And I am stuck with the frayed ID page, which I am sure I will get hell from airline and immigration employees for the next few years.

Now that the State Department and the courier lobby has tasted
these "expedite" revenues, what are the chances of some serious process
angioplasty to the application process?

I am missing 5 events this month I had penciled on my calendar. Bad planning by my wife and my clients -)

Sep 5-7 Office 2.0 Ismael builds on the conference he launched last year which showcases various productivity, collaboration and mobility trends. Several EIs are active in the conference planning and presentation.

Sep 9-11 Ketera Connect Would have been nice to catch up with Farley Blackman, comfortable in any continent around the world, and someone who blends Six Sigma (his GE pedigree) with global sourcing (his BP job) disciplines. And fellow EI Jason Busch. But my biggest disappointment is missing Gauthier Vasseur, former controller of Remy Martin discuss cognac and business intelligence - in that order -)

Sep 17-19 salesforce.com Dreamforce - They say Marc Benioff has a big ego - but he is man enough to share his stage with George Lucas and with industry leaders like John Chambers, Dave Duffield, and Bruce Chizen. And Nick Carr will presumably talk about his next book.

Sep 18-19 SAP's A1S Briefing While the invitation was a bit light on details, this event promises more details on SAP's SaaS plans than they shared at Sapphire earlier in year.

The way my travel looks, the best conference I have a shot at making this month is this. Of course, I could always go to Gartner Symposium in October. Somehow, though, Steve Ballmer and Michael Dell keynotes make it look pretty 1.0.

Note to self: Take September off next year for conferences. And July in Tuscany. And March for Spring training.

Actually, make September start in last week in August. Got to finally do Burning Man.

Colleen Barrett is retiring as President of Southwest. Ed Bastian is becoming President of Delta. Two airlines at turning points.

I am a fan of both execs - written about Colleen here, Ed here. Southwest has done well by our family for a while now. Delta has been extremely friendly recently, thanks to Ed. Have been upgraded on several international flights (ok, so not quite flat beds, but I have a hard time sleeping on flights and appreciate the larger work space) . Earlier in the year, I swore it would take me to 2018 to get to the 3 million life time milestone. Now, I will get there in a few more months.

Recently, both have done even better. Colleen (well, her staff) sent my daughter a book on role model Texas women, once she found out Rita flies Southwest to most of her chess tournaments. I recently made Platinum on Delta (after several years) and Delta sent me 6 complimentary international upgrades.

The airline industry gets a bad rap and when things go bad, they really go bad. But when they do go bad, I try and remember Da Vinci is looking down in awe.